When a parent who doesn’t have custody of her children runs off with them, the act is a serious criminal offense – a felony that can result in a prison sentence.

“There’s no legal right for one spouse to take the children away and to limit access to the other parent,” Fontana police Sgt. Jeff Decker said.

On Monday, three grandchildren of Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, reportedly were abducted by their mother, Jennifer DeJongh.

The issue of child abduction by parents waging custody disputes typically flies under the public’s radar unless a public figure, such as Miller, is involved.

But the act is fairly common, police say.

“It does pop up now and then,” Decker said. “We get a few cases of this probably every year. It’s usually custody issues, sometimes before a court order is even involved.”

Motivation for an abduction can include a parent’s unhappiness with a spouse’s parenting techniques, or because a parent moving out takes the children without permission, Decker said.

“I’m not sure there’s a single common denominator,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just to get back at the other spouse. Sometimes it’s abusive relationships and they’re trying to get away.”

Decker said that in his experience, parents have fled with children across the country, with some even leaving the country.

“Most of the cases that I’ve personally been involved with have ended in the child being brought back,” Decker said.

Officials from local school districts said they have policies in place to ensure that when students are taken out of schools, they are taken by parents or others who have permission to do so.

“We have on file for each student a list of emergency contacts – parents, of course, and then other people who are authorized by the parent to pick up the student from school,” said Nancy Harms, associate superintendent for education services at the Chino Valley Unified School District.

“If our office staff does not know the person who is picking the student up, they generally ask for some form of identification to ensure that the person who is picking the student up is the person who is listed on the emergency card.”

Local school district officials also said they request copies of court documents related to custody of children enrolled in their districts.

“We have appropriate paperwork that spells out, at the time of a student’s registration, anything that’s tied to custody or guardianship,” said Melissa Smith, director of student services.

Four district officials interviewed Tuesday said that since they’ve been working, there have not been any instances of students being wrongfully removed from campus.

“There have been times when we’ve asked the Claremont Police Department to come and reaffirm what we’ve told (a parent) and escort them from campus,” said Mike Bateman, executive director of student services at the Claremont Unified School District.

“But since I’ve been here, we haven’t had anyone abduct a student, if that’s what you want to call it.”

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